Nerve Net
Produced by Brian Eno (with Markus Draws),
1992
You can buy this CD, or better
yet, get
it for free at Switchhouse.com...
"Eno's most adventurous
solo release in the 1990's -- and perhaps of all time -- has been
Nerve Net of 1992. If I had to choose a single Eno album to
take with me to a desert island for the rest of my life, this would
be it, because it's got it all: vintage weird Eno vocals, brash,
unusual syntehsizer textures up the wazoo; tonality, atonality, and
just about everything in between; a number of really sublimely
irritating pieces. . . . and hey, you can dance to it, too. . . .
Indeed in Nerve Net as a whole, Eno once again excels in
coaxing outrageous performances out of all his instrumentalists and
vocalists, somehow managing to create, out of the widest, most
disparate palette of sounds, something that congeals -- and rocks."
(Tamm, second edition, pg. 180)
Yeah, I like it too. It
doesn't really hold up against his other albums, but I am pleasantly
surprised at its lasting charm and interest over the years. It was a
whole new world of house and techno, the whole next generation of
electronica superstars was just emerging, and Eno decided he'd have
his say at least one more time. If you compare it to the newer
electronica, Nerve Net seems quite dull and plodding -- but taken out
of the 160bpm context it's a very strong album and an enjoyable
listen.
THE SONGS:
- "Fractal Zoom"
It was crying out for several club and ambient remixes, and we got
those on the fantastic CD-5. On the album though, it's mellow and
sexy and suggests flight in a first-class airline kind of way. A
superb album opener, firmly staking its place in the new
electronica scene that Eno inadvertently helped to create. Robert
Fripp on guitar, though it's not strikingly him, it's definitely
in the style he was developing at the time.
- "Wire Shock"
Very jazzy, abrupt, jarring and soothing and very continental and
very Eno. Great use of the horn section on a synthesizer of some
kind in the middle. The female (?) vocals ramble through some kind
of Eurononsense that may or may not be French -- and with Eno, it
doesn't really matter because you know he doesn't really
care.
- "What Actually
Happened?"
One of my favorite tracks from the album... it's twiddly and pooky
musically, and the vocal track is Brian reading a text about
possible date rape, with no particular solution offered for the
confused, horny-in-the-middle-of-the-night boyfriends of the
world. The track closes with the repetition of the phrase "What
actually happened?" Would make great film music for a safecracking
scene -- it's just that tense.
- "Pierre In Mist"
Dreamy instrumental track, full of audio sparkles and reminiscent
of the XTC Homo Safari series, which was in turn influenced by
Eno. Funny how these things happen. A "Csj Bofop" is credited with
"mist". I smell a pseudonymic rat, but I could always be wrong.
Maybe he's Norwegian or something.
- "My Squelchy Life"
Another of my favorite tracks, and a complete success from the
ground up -- a challenging but accessible syncopated rhythm plus
lots of smooth glacial synth tracks PLUS random very odd
suggestive noises PLUS vocals featuring Brian and a metric
buttload of other folks (like Brian's daughter Maria). Giggling
children, emotionally distant women, and the always emotionally
distant Brian. Fantastic.
- "Juju Space Jazz"
Also a quite successful track, if slightly too ethereal and
unfinished-sounding -- it definitely lives up to its name, and the
whole concept was probably explored further in The Drop (and its
concept of "unwelcome jazz". Has great vocal track (sampled?) by
Nell Catchpole. Go figure.
- "The Roil, The
Choke"
A great Eno lyric where he has all kinds of fun with words --
internal rhymes, assonance, consonance, rhyme, the whole nine
yards. It sounds very much old-school rock Eno -- Another Green
World or Before And After Science type stuff. Musically it doesn't
quite fit so well with the rest of the album or with anything
else, precisely because of its old-Eno sound; hence, when I'm
listening to the album, I tend to not prefer this track. It's very
good though, taken out of its album context (or its CD-single
B-side context, because it just doesn't belong on the "Ali Click"
single with all the sexy club chill-out room remixes!) Great piano
solo at the end.
- "Ali Click"
This is the most immediately engaging song Eno's done in a million
years. There's a rumour that the drum track on this song was
borrowed/stolen/claimed from EMF's "Unbelievable", which Eno
remixed for the Red, Hot and Blue AIDS charity remix project.
Another great word-play lyric that makes basically no sense except
as a tongue-twister, but it's a beast. The vocals don't last long
and it's into a couple of minutes of sexy guitar noodlings from
Jamie West-Oran, who, if I'm not mistaken, was in the Fixx (an
excellent band, despite the bad rap of being considered an 80's
one-hit-wonder. It was at least three hits by my
counting).
- "Distributed Being"
Another solid instrumental with some human voice sounds in the
background (call me crazy, but it sounds kind of like they're
saying "Shai-hulud". Sue me, I have DUNE on the brain), shimmyable
drum and bass track, and more far-out jazz piano by former Led
Zeppeliner John Paul Jones. I call bullshit on the idea that Eno
isn't a musician -- that's a hell of a bassline he whips out here.
And then there's a paint-peeling guitar solo from -- you guessed
it -- FRIPP! Are you surprised? I'm not surprised.
- "Web"
This song bears a lot of similarity to David Bowie's OUTSIDE
-- that same kind of constantly mounting tension (suggested by a
rising piano arpeggio), but without the unleashing of emotional
violence that characterizes Bowie's album. More music for films --
something bad is about to happen, but we never see what or how or
why. Brittle in texture. Intense mental soundscape. Also goes on
for an uncomfortably long time. Not recommended for those freaking
out on acid. It's not really ambient (unless you turn the volume
way down), but rather instrumental, with icy-chilling guitar from
-- wait for it -- Gregg Arreguin. Had you fooled for a second,
eh?
- "Decentre"
This is all "moon piano" as Brian calls it, and that's a great way
to describe this sad, moody, translucent sound of tones and pauses
and uncertainty. It is difficult with songs like this to tell if
they were composed or simply improvised around a musical theme;
with this kind of tonal structure, it could really go either way.
This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It won't seem
dated for another hundred years.
lyrics
and album cover at EnoWeb
from the liner notes:
THIS RECORD IS:- LIKE PAELLA / A
SELF CONTRADICTORY MESS / OFF BALANCE / UNLOCKED / DISSONANT /
FRENETIC / EVANESCENT / OVERHEATED / GODLESS/ CLOCKLESS / RECKLESS /
SQUELCHY / UNAMERICAN / TECHNICALLY NAIVE / FAR TOO VAGUE /
DERIVATIVE OF EVERYTHING / POST COOL / POST ROOT / CRUNCHY / BLUFF /
POST WORLD / POST MAN / TOO MUCH / NOT ENOUGH / REVISIONIST /
SHAMELESSLY EXHIBITIONIST / UNTAILORED / UNCENTERED / CLEARLY THE
WORK OF A MIND IN DISTRESS / WHERE-AM-I MUSIC
backwater